Internal-combustion engine



INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Sept. 1, 1928 IIIIII/I ''v i I I I f I 5 INVENTOR; (Zar/es /7. 7'7uc/ren/urn BY 5 iaaw Patented Apr. 15, 1930 PATEN T OFFICE CHARLES H. MUGKEETHIRN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Application filed September 1, 1928. Serial No. 303,392.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and is directed particularly toward the construction of some of the parts which form the combustion chamber.

The object of the present inventionds to obtain a more complete combustion of the gaseous fuel mixture, and to this end the invention contemplates eifectin movement or turbulence of the fuel in t e combustion 0 chamber. ,Diflerent" constructions in combustion chambers have been proposed to provide for better or more complete combustion of the gases, and while some of these proposed constructions have involved complicated and costly structures, they have not fully reached the ends desired. In accordance with the present invention an imfioved combustion may be effected by a very simple.

and not costly construction, and the invention can be carried out b construction in a piston head, acylinder head or otherpart which forms a wall of the combustion chamber.

"More specifically, the invention contemplates constructing one of the members which orms a wall of the combustion chamber with.

a formation which employs the dynamic properties of the cycloid curve as a means of efiecting a state of agitation or turbulence in the combustible mixture. This formation may be that of a depression in the cylinder head, in the piston head, or both. With such a construction the tendency towards turbulence in the gases will be effective throughout a large ra e of the difierent stages of compression. fn'the com ression stroke of the piston the charge of uel is compressed and 1ts character or density is changedby reason of the smaller compass into which it is forced, and inasmuch as the construction of the invention is effective to set up a state of agitation or turbulence in the gases during the compression stroke of the piston, the gases are in a. state of turbulence at the moment of ignition. With the gases thus in a state of turbulence more complete combustion is assured. ,IvIorebver, by thus effecting a state of turbulence in the combustible gases the socalled spark knock or detonation is minimized. F

embodying the The invention is advantageous both from the standpoint of embodying the invention in engines at the time of their manufacture and from the standpoint of embodying the invention in engines now in use, inasmuch as any internal combustion engine may employ the invention, with the resultant improved operation, by the simple procedure of placing in that engine, pistons, a cylinder head, or both which embody the formation employing the dynamic properties of the cycloid.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1- is a View in section of the top of a piston illustrating its formation in accordance with the invention and also diagrammatically illustrating the. curvature of a depression 'in the piston head.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the piston head.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken through a cylinder and piston which provides a combustion chamber contemplated by the invention. i Fig. 4 is aview illustrating how both the piston and cylinder head may be constructed as contemplated by the invention.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a piston illustrating a modified arrangement.

Fig. 6 is a section of reduced size illustrating a piston and cylinder head. constructed after the manner of the form shown in Fig. 5.

The invention employs the cyloid curve, which curve' possesses certain peculiar characteristics, and some of the members of an internal combustion engine which define the combustion chamber, are provided with a depression or depressions-having the curvato be preferable to dispose the depression slightly eccentrically of the piston, although this is not essential inasmuch as the depres-. sion can be located concentrically if the same is found to be expedient.

The remainin portions of this depression, extending on eit er side of this central curve illustrated in section in Fig.' 1, is also made up of a multiplicity of cycloid curves which owever are curves described by smaller circles. Some of these curves are illustrated by the lines in Fig. 2, and the circles which describe these curves are such that the cusp of each curve is at one edge of the recess, whereas the vertices meet at a common oint as shown. Accordingly, the edge 0 the recess is formed by a curved line drawn through the cusps of the multiplicity of" cycloid curves and through the point of the common meetin of the vertices. The arrangement is suc that the bounding edge of the recess has preferably a slightly oval or eg shaped appearance, as illustrated.

us the recess is formed by a multiplic ity of inverted half portions of a multiplicity of cycloid curves with the curves, or

' rather the imaginary circle which describes the curve, decreasing in size on either side of the centrally disposed curve extending from the point where the vertices meet to a diametrically opposite oint. I am not aware of any term or p rase that will exactly and briefly characterize this inverted geometric figure; it may be considered as analogous to an elliptical spheroid, and for convenience therefore I will term this inverted figure an inverted differential cycloidal s eroid.

One 0? cloid curve isthat of changin the direction of movement of an article ro lin upon its surface from the vertical .to the iorrzontal without loss of force. This is true where the force is gravity; where the force is other than gravity the change is through 90 but not necessarily from the vertical to the horizontal. This roperty is utilized in the present invention or effecting turbulence or agitation from the gases which are compressed in the combustion chamber.

.In Fig. 3 the piston is shown near the upper limit of the stroke, and the combustible gases are compressed in s ace 4, between the head 3 and the iston. 8 on the compression of the gases t e molecul s are compacted more tightly together with the result that there is an outward expanding tendency. Accordingly, as the piston rises toward the head,

some of the ases located in close roximity to the multip icity of cusps at the edge of the depression flow into the de ression and the normal direction of flow is rom the cusp to the vertex. The ses thus flowing towards the vertex from t e ap reciable portion of the edge of the recess ounded by the line the peculiar properties of the cy-- drawn through the cusps, are concentrated, so to speak, as they approach the vertex with the result that all of the gases cannot reach the 'point but some are thrown outwardly, while other gases pass up through the vertex. A rotar sort of turbulence is set up by the gases owing through the depression towards the vertex, and then back towards the edges opposed to the vertex, as indicated by the arrows of Fig.3. This explanation, of course, is offered merely as a theory based upon the known properties of the cycloid.

In the modified form of Fig. 4 the piston 1 has a depression 2 of the inverted differential cycloidal spheroid, and the head 5 may also be provided with an opposing similar depression 6. However, it is preferable to have the depressions reversed so that the vertex of each is immediately opposite the cusp of the more centrally disposed cycloid curve of the other. The turbulence set up by the two opposed recesses is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4:. The compressed gases which exit from the vertex of one depression are directed inwardly near the cusps of the other.

recess thus effecting a sort of continuous rotating turbulence in the gases.

The invention also contemplates disposition of more than one of these depressions in a piston or cylinder head, as shown in Fig. 5, w erein a piston head 6 is provided with three depressions 7, each an inverted differential cycloidal spheroid. Preferably the vertices of the several recesses are disposed,near the axial center of the piston, as shown. The piston, as shown in Fig. 5, can be used with a conventional cylinder head, as illustrated at 3 in Fig. 3, or it may be used with a cylinder head formed with opposed recesses cor. responding in number to those in the piston, as illustrated in Fig. 6, wherein the cylinder head 8. has a plurality of depressions 9 which cooperate with depressions 7 in the piston as described in connection with Fig. 4.

Claims: a

1. A piston having a head with a depression therein with said depression being formed with the curvature of a cycloid.

1 2. A piston having a head witha depression therein with said depression being formed with the curvature of a cycloid, the cusp of the cycloid being located substantially at one edge of the depression, and the vertex of the cycloid substantially at another edge of the depression.

3. A piston having a head with a depression, the bottom of said depression having the curvature of a multiplicity of cycloid curves generated by circles'of different sizes, the vertices of the cycloid curves being disposed substantially at one edge of the recess at substantially a common point with the curves radiating therefrom.

4. A piston having a head with a depression, the bottom of said depression having the curvature of a multiplicity of cycloid curves generated by circles of different sizes, the vertices of the cycloid curves being disposed substantially at one edge of the recess at substantially a common point with the curves radiating therefrom, and the cusps of the curves terminating substantially at another edge of tlie depresison and at spaced points along the e ge.

5. A piston having a head with a depression, the bottom of said depression having the curvature of a multiplicity of cycloid curves generate-d by circles of diiferent sizes, the vertices of the cycloid curves being disposed substantially at one edge of the depression and at substantially a common point with the curves radiating therefrom, and the cusps of each curve terminating substantially at another edge of the depression, the bounding edge of the depression being formed by a line drawn through the cusps of the multiplicity of cycloid curves and through the common point of the vertices.

6. A piston comprising a head having at least one depression formed thereon, which depression is in the form of an inverted differential cycloidal spheroid.

7. A cylinder head for an engine having a A depression, the walls of which have a curvature of a cycloid.

8. A cylinder head for an engine havin a depresison in the form of an inverted di erential cycloidal spheroid.

9. A cylinder head for an en ine having a depression therein, the walls 0 said depres- L 'sion having the shape of a multiplicity of cycloid curves generated by circles of varying diameter, the said curves having their vertices terminating substantially at a common point with the cusps of the curves defining the major portion of the edge of the depression.

7 10. In an internal combustion en 'ne having a combustion chamber, walls de 'ng the combustion chamber formed in part by a piston head and a cylinder head, some of said walls havin at least one depresison with the curvature o the bottom of said depression being that of a cycloid curve.

11. In an internal combustion ,en e having a combustion chamber, walls de ing the combustion chamber formed in part by a piston head and a cylinder head, some of said walls having at least one depression, the curvature of the bottom of the depression being in the form of an inverted difierential cycloidal spheroid.

In testimony whereof I affix m si nature.

CHARLES H. MUG 

